5 Steps Closer To A More Resilient Teen

Aug 17, 2016

The Huffington Post – Daniel Patterson

“There’s a picture currently going viral; a simple sign taped to the door of a school in Arkansas. It reads, “Stop! If you are dropping off your son’s forgotten lunch, books, homework, equipment etc., please TURN AROUND and exit the building. Your son will learn to problem-solve in your absence.” While extremely blunt, the sign accurately summarizes a growing frustration in education: the saturation of overly-involved high school parents. These parents regularly meddle in, fix, engineer and master-mind their teens’ daily lives. They intercept teachable moments from the hands of their children thereby preventing the acquisition of a much-needed life skill: resiliency. Developing resiliency is like riding a bike: difficult to master, but impossible to forget. Even as years pass between bike rides, the brain easily recalls how to proceed. The same holds true with resiliency; developed early, it can be effectively utilized in adulthood. But just like riding a bike, it takes practice. High school is crucial in the process of resiliency development; it’s an opportunity for teens to experience grit-producing scenarios. When denied such formative experiences, life’s future challenges are forever exacerbated by its absence.”(more)